For All the Tomorrows
by Midorino Mizu
Summary: Five years after high school graduation, things have changed.
1. Chapter One

For All the Tomorrows  
  
Midorino Mizu  
  
Disclaimer: Paradise Kiss is the property of Ai Yazawa. I'm simply messing with the characters for my own personal amusement.  
  
In Yukari's world, everything was always complicated.  
  
She had lived with George from the time they graduated from high school until her college graduation.  
  
On the day she graduated from the small, simple university where she had attended part-time while she modeled, she broke up with George Koizumi.  
  
It had begun, of course, with one of their fights.  
  
They always fought, about anything. Between her temper and his contradictory expectations, peace was practically an impossibility.  
  
This particular fight had been about her future expectations.  
  
***  
  
Koryuu University's graduation robes were a brilliant scarlet, and Yukari looked beautiful in them, mostly because her smile was so brilliant.  
  
She had exhausted herself in the past year. College was not as pressured as high school had been, but she hadn't been working full-time in high school. Between modeling jobs, parties, and her schoolwork, it was amazing to her that earning her degree had only taken her five years, rather than six or seven.  
  
But she had finished, and she was now the possessor of a degree in Japanese history.  
  
She was happy all afternoon, throughout the celebrations with Miwako, Arashi, and Isabella at the basement studio where they'd all become friends.  
  
Of course, George's Paradise Kiss line was housed in a chic office building by then. He was a genius at designing clothes, and it was quickly recognized. Or as quickly as anything like that happened in the fashion world.  
  
But in any case, they all still met at the original studio for social purposes, and it was there that they had a picnic with champagne and rice balls.  
  
Afterwards, Yukari and George went out to dinner, and had one of their famous rows.  
  
The rest of the restaurant ignored them-there was hardly anyone there who hadn't gotten used to Nikaido's fashion designer son and his model girlfriend's violent fights.  
  
Though Yukari was always more likely to become physically violent then George.  
  
It had begun innocently enough. "So what are you going to do now, Yukari?"  
  
Yukari had merely blinked across the candlelit table at her boyfriend. "W- what do you mean, George?"  
  
George lifted a sardonic eyebrow. "Don't you have any goals anymore?" He sighed and shook his head. "Yukari."  
  
Yukari's eyes narrowed into tiny dark slits and her face flushed red. "George," she gritted out.  
  
"Well, you're nearly twenty-four, Yukari. Don't you think you should start deciding what you want?"  
  
"You're twenty-four now too, George," Yukari returned with admirable coolness. "Don't you think you should decide what you want from me?"  
  
She smiled as she rose to her feet and picked up her purse. "Goodnight, George. I don't imagine I'll see you again tonight. After all, you did sacrifice an entire day of work for my sake.  
  
"I could hardly expect you to give me the night too."  
  
As she swept out of the restaurant, she couldn't help but ponder the fact that George had finally let her have a great exit line.  
  
That night, George slept on a sofa in his office suite.  
  
When he returned to his penthouse apartment the next day, almost all the signs that Yukari had lived there were gone.  
  
All of their friends were careful not to mention them to each other, but George had heard Miwako whisper to Isabella that Yukari had started to date her high school friend, Hiroyuki.  
  
He was very good at pretending that it didn't matter to him.  
  
A week later, he started dating Aso Kaori, who had returned to Japan, and was a designer on George's own level.  
  
***  
  
"Yukari?" The voice was soft and familiar, and Yukari barely started when it came out of nowhere.  
  
"Hi, Hiro," she replied. "Is it almost time to go?"  
  
He nodded with a smile, but his eyes were dark with concern. "Are you sure you're up to this?"  
  
She shrugged. "It's not as if I can avoid him forever; we share mutual best friends. Besides," she continued weakly, "I wouldn't want to disappoint Miwako. Are you sure you'll be all right, though? You don't have to come; I'd probably be all right on my own."  
  
Hiro shrugged and brushed black hair out of his eyes. "I knew they'd get married eventually. I might as well see the event myself." An unexpected smile broke on his face. "It'll be fun to watch Arashi squirm."  
  
An answering smile flashed on Yukari's face. "I knew there'd be an ulterior motive hiding somewhere." She stood up and spun around for him. "So, how do I look?"  
  
"Stunning. As usual."  
  
"That's not really a compliment, you know. But I don't have time to berate you properly." Yukari picked up the jacket that matched her dress, and they walked out the door to the garage, and climbed into Hero's sleek black Mercedes.  
  
They didn't speak on the drive over; they were mostly lost in their own thoughts.  
  
Hiroyuki was probably thinking of Miwako and Arashi.  
  
Yukari didn't think that Hiro was really in love with Miwako anymore. She rather thought he just was used to regretting what had happened instead.  
  
As for herself and George, she wasn't sure. She'd fallen in love with him in matter of days, after he'd tossed her entire world upside down. And she had loved him, for the better part of six years.  
  
But did she love him that way anymore?  
  
No. Their relationship had burned too hot to last forever. If she had stayed with him, he would have driven her completely insane, and she might have learned to hate him.  
  
But Hiroyuki.he'd first been her perfect crush, and then her support, throughout that last semester of high school, and all the way through college. He always listened, and he never judged her.  
  
Yukari loved him. It wasn't the way she had loved George-nothing could be the way she had loved George, but she loved him.  
  
It was, she reflected as she stared at his profile in the darkened car, a love that healed more often than it injured.  
  
Yukari took Hiro's hand and squeezed it lightly. He gave her a questioning glance before he flicked his eyes back to the road.  
  
And he squeezed her hand back.  
  
~Fin  
  
Author's Note: I really do like George and Yukari, really. At the same time, there's something to be said for Hiroyuki's constancy. And I do think that they'd make a really good couple.  
  
So don't shoot me. 


	2. Chapter Two

Author's Note: George is very hard for me to write, for some reason. And I don't really know enough about Kaori yet to due justice to her. So if either one of them seems OOC, that's why.  
  
Disclaimer: Paradise Kiss is the property of Ai Yazawa.  
  
For All the Tomorrows  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Midorino Mizu  
  
George would have rather come alone, but he bowed to Miwako's wishes and brought a date instead.  
  
It was, after all, the rehearsal dinner for her wedding.  
  
So instead of standing alone against the wall, staring into nothing, waiting for the evening to end, he was standing against the wall with Aso Kaori, holding a plate of food that he hadn't touched.  
  
He was still staring into nothing.  
  
"George?" attempted the other designer. He inclined his head to one side to indicate he had heard. "I don't think this behavior is quite what Miwako had in mind."  
  
"What do you mean?'  
  
"Well, she keeps looking over here, and she might be getting worried enough to come over soon."  
  
"Ah." George leveled one of his devastating smiles on his partner. "Then I'll have to be more convincing. Should I start feeding you from my plate?'  
  
Kaori flushed red. "I don't think that will be necessary, George. But perhaps if you demonstrated some enthusiasm for something other than the wall." She took a deep breath. "It has been a year, you know."  
  
"Yes," murmured George as he picked up a delicately crafted hors' d'oeuvre and popped it into Kaori's open mouth. "I know. But I find it difficult to move on when I can't understand why she left."  
  
Kaori's eyes scowled at him as she chewed on the appetizer he'd fed her when she'd had her guard down. He grinned back at her.  
  
Kaori swallowed quickly, washing the creamy food down with wine. "You don't understand, George, because you are an idiot."  
  
"Really? I was not aware."  
  
"It's the truth." Kaori's eyes flashed and she poked her old classmate squarely in the chest. "You spent five years with Yukari, and your expectations of a relationship were impossible. You wanted an independent woman, but you were furious when she showed those kinds of tendencies. The two of you fought at least once a week.  
  
"I confess I don't know how you expected that to last for your entire life."  
  
George said nothing, but his lips tightened at the corners.  
  
"Yukari," Kaori continued, gazing across the room where the model was laughing and chatting with her new boyfriend, Tokumori Hiroyuki, "is someone whose dreams make her fly. So are you. That's why it couldn't work out. You both need someone who can keep you grounded on Earth occasionally."  
  
George's face flushed, and he took several ragged breaths before speaking. "I think I need to go out and get some air, Kaori. I'll be back before long."  
  
Long after George Koizumi had swung through the doors of the restaurant, Aso Kaori stood rooted where he'd left her.  
  
"I would bring you back to Earth, George," she whispered. "But you never want to depend on anyone, do you?"  
  
***  
  
Isabella and Miwako looked up from their conversation as George left and sighed in unison.  
  
"Do you think that he'll ever be back to the way he was?" asked Miwako.  
  
"No," replied Isabella distinctly. "But that's not a bad thing; Yukari isn't the same as she was when she lived with George. She's still driven and independent, but calmer and more centered at the same time. Having someone like Hiroyuki, someone who isn't afraid to be depended upon, has been good for her."  
  
The bride-to-be cast a curious glance over at the couple in question. "Do you think they've moved in together yet?"  
  
"No," said a familiar male voice behind them. They turned to stare at Arashi, who had just wandered up. "It's too soon in their relationship for that. Hiro's always been kind of reserved, and Yukari might be wary after." Arashi waved an arm to indicate the door George had disappeared through. "But there have definitely been sleepovers."  
  
"Really? How do you know, Arashi?" asked Miwako.  
  
"And aren't we all a little old for sleepovers?" drawled Isabella.  
  
Arashi's eye twitched. "Never mind, Isabella."  
  
"Very well," said Isabella as he patted his elegantly curled blond wig. "Be that way, Arashi. It's not my fault you failed to articulate yourself properly. Miwako, let's go to the powder room."  
  
"But Miwako wants to know how Arashi knows that!"  
  
"He'll never tell, anyway."  
  
Arashi groaned slightly and rubbed his temples. Sometimes he wondered how he had let himself into such a permanently crazy situation  
  
Then, he thought, as he watched the slim and petite figure in the lavender wig skip after the tall and stately one, he remembered.  
  
***  
  
George Koizumi didn't smoke, but he thought maybe that he should be holding a cigarette.  
  
He was, after all, leaning against a lamppost in the middle of the night, and he was thinking of things from the past.  
  
According to all the American movies, you were supposed to smoke when you did that.  
  
He sighed and rubbed at the space between his eyebrows. He was glad Yukari was happy. It had been years since she had even smiled at him very often, and laughter had become increasingly rare in their apartment.  
  
So, perhaps it had been inevitable that their relationship would end. Perhaps, if they had stayed together, the pressure and the fighting would have destroyed them both.  
  
He didn't want to see Yukari turned into his mother, a mere shadow of her former personality, and George had no desire to be his father.  
  
Still.he loved Yukari, even now. And it still hurt to she her smiling up at the man who had always been, in George's own mind, a rival.  
  
But maybe it was okay to still love her; she was, after all, the first girl he had fallen hard for. He wouldn't be surprised if he always loved her, a little bit.  
  
As for the pain.well, eventually, everything stopped hurting.  
  
He'd just have to be patient.  
  
***  
  
"It hasn't been as bad as we thought it would be, has it?"  
  
Yukari looked up at her tall boyfriend, and shook her head with a smile. "No. A little uncomfortable at times, but sometimes fun, too. So, not bad."  
  
"That's good. If it had been as horrible as we had anticipated, the wedding would be a nightmare."  
  
"No," disagreed Yukari. "Even if George and I had been unable to get along, I don't think we could have ruined the day for Miwako and Arashi."  
  
"Probably not," said Hiro. "But it still would have been nightmarish for you, and that would have darkened it for Miwako. You know how she is."  
  
"Yeah." Yukari looked around at the thinning out party. "What time is it, by the way?"  
  
"It's after midnight. Do you want to get going?"  
  
"Well, I wouldn't want to keep you out to late. You have all those important morning meetings."  
  
Hiroyuki laughed. "I could sleep all the way through them, and not miss anything important. But I wouldn't dream of depriving you of your beauty sleep, so we'll say our goodbyes."  
  
They thanked Miwako and Arashi fairly quickly, and made for the door.  
  
Aso Kaori, it seemed, was also leaving.  
  
"Hello, Kaori," said Yukari. George had been dating the other designer almost as long as she had Hiro had been seeing one another, but she had the feeling that George couldn't bring himself to give the relationship a real chance.  
  
"Ah, hello Yukari. You look well." Kaori's voice was normally cheerful and happy, but now it was subdued, as if the evening had taken a toll on her.  
  
"So do you." Yukari paused for a moment, uncertain as to whether she should say anything else. "We'll see you next week, then, at the wedding?"  
  
"Yes," replied the other girl simply.  
  
"Ah. I'll see you then, I guess."  
  
Kaori stared after the two as they walked out the restaurant doors and climbed into the sleek black German car. She knew that she had made the model uncomfortable, and she didn't blame Yukari for the situation they were in now at all. She had, however, always felt a little uncomfortable around the tall girl.  
  
George had loved her a long time, and still thought himself in love with her, after all.  
  
Kaori sighed deeply, and stepped outside the restaurant herself. George was leaning against a lamp post half a block away.  
  
"Are you ready to go now?" she asked as she walked up to him.  
  
"I think so, but I'd like to walk."  
  
"Okay."  
  
The stroll was a quiet one, and George seemed to be fascinated with the burning fluorescent lights of Tokyo, even though he'd grown up with them. Once they got to her apartment building, however, he finally looked her in the eye and spoke to her.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kaori. I've been using you."  
  
Kaori blushed slightly. "It's okay, George. It's not like I didn't know."  
  
"Somehow," he said with a crooked, sad smile, "that makes it worse. I'll call you in a couple of days, though. Okay?"  
  
Kaori nodded. "Okay."  
  
"Goodnight, then. And thank you."  
  
Kaori smiled as she watched George disappear into the night. She thought that, maybe, he had finally decided to move on.  
  
That was good. She wanted him to be happy again.  
  
She wanted to be happy again, too. 


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Paradise Kiss and all characters contained therein are the property of Ai Yazawa.  
  
Author's Note: And the conclusion! Miwako and Arashi get married. This chapter is about the length of the first to chapters combined, but hey, sometimes it takes that much.  
  
For All the Tomorrows  
  
Part 3  
  
She had started cultivating blue roses shortly after the senior show.  
  
They hadn't been of any use, of course; by the time the bloomed in high summer, the show had been in the past for an entire year. George was designing for a prestigious design house and working towards building his own company. Yukari had been juggling modeling with college. Arashi had started devoting himself more fully to his band, and Miwako had started work at Happy Berry.  
  
Isabella was the only one who saw the brilliant blue-purple flowers, and even she didn't see them often. There wasn't time anymore. She, like the rest of her friends, had been sent into a post-high school flurry of activity.  
  
So the Bleu Magenta roses that she had carefully chosen were, for the most part, ignored while Isabella learned her new routine.  
  
Once she had mastered her new life, she remembered them, and smiled.  
  
She wasn't entirely sure why she had bothered to grow them-the event they would have been most useful for was long past, and the show dress was carefully wrapped and stored in George's closet with the rest of the beautiful clothing.  
  
The roses grew in the garden, where no one but Isabella and Sebastian saw them, and occasionally served as a centerpiece in the dining room, but never left the grounds of the Yamamoto estate.  
  
Until Miwako and Arashi had finally decided to get married, and Miwako had chosen purple and lavender as the wedding colors.  
  
The Bleu Magenta roses would look lovely in Miwako's hair. Or rather, they would look lovely in Miwako's lavender wig.  
  
Isabella pulled her silk robe closer around herself, picked up the basket, and headed back towards his empty house. The sun was just beginning to rise in the east.  
  
It was going to be a long day.  
  
***  
  
Miwako was nervous, and tired.  
  
She felt like she hadn't slept at all the night before, and she put most of the blame for that on Mikako's shoulders.  
  
Her sister had, in an odd moment of traditionalism, insisted that Miwako stay in her old room at her home, instead of the apartment Miwako had been sharing with Arashi.  
  
Over the past few years, Miwako had somehow forgotten how to sleep alone.  
  
"Sit up, Miwako, or I won't be able to put this on straight." Mikako was scowling into the mirror in front of her sister, with half a dozen bobby pins in her mouth.  
  
"I'm tired."  
  
"And whose fault is that?" Mikako responded automatically.  
  
"Yours." Miwako's eyes sparkled mischievously, but she pulled herself upright and sat still.  
  
"This wig is your fault, though. I have no idea why, after twenty-five years of pink, you chose lavender for today."  
  
"I wanted something that would make today different."  
  
"Today," said Mikako as she shoved one last pin in. "Will be different no matter what. It can't help but be."  
  
"I've got the flowers!" called Isabella as she glided into the room.  
  
Mikako lifted her eyebrows. "Don't tell me you dyed those flowers."  
  
The roses were an unreal shade of violet, so deep as to be almost blue, and they rather resembled the color of the flowers Yukari had once worn in her hair for the Yaza Arts show.  
  
Isabella shook her head and smiled at the older woman, who still looked as if she could be Miwako's twin. "Of course not," she said as she stripped off one white glove. "See, no stains."  
  
She set the white basket on the vanity and worked her glove back on her hand. "Blue roses are rare, but not completely unknown. I started growing these the year after we all graduated."  
  
"They're beautiful," said Miwako, trailing a fingertip over one deep purple petal. She smiled up at Isabella. "Thank you."  
  
Isabella smiled slightly. "They would go to waste in my garden."  
  
She scrutinized Miwako's image in the mirror. The lavender wig was finally in place, and curls tumbled over the petite girl's shoulders. "Now, how are we going to do this? Are you leaving the wig down?"  
  
"I don't want to contemplate trying an upsweep with that thing, so yes." Mikako sounded a bit disgruntled.  
  
"A wreath of flowers might be best, then," said Isabella, tapping a fingertip against her chin. "What do you think, Miwako?"  
  
Miwako opened her mouth to reply, but was forestalled by a voice coming from the room's entrance. "I think a wreath would make Miwako look like a fairy tale princess or a wood nymph.  
  
"If you want help, Isabella," continued Yukari, "I'd be glad to lend my assistance."  
  
"Caroline!" squeaked Miwako. "You're here early."  
  
Yukari nodded. "Hiro was looking at his computer screen in such a way that I know that he'd be out of it for hours." She snorted. "I'll call him, so he remembers to get changed in time."  
  
Miwako nodded in agreement. "I'd worry about Arashi, but George is handling him."  
  
Isabella grinned in a very un-ladylike way as she picked up a few flowers from the basket and started twining the stems together. "Poor Arashi. I saw the tuxedo that George designed for the occasion."  
  
"Oh?" said Yukari as she eyed Isabella's wreath. Some baby's breath would work well to break up the purple. Perhaps some leaves as well. "What's it like?"  
  
"Well, in keeping with Miwako's theme, it's purple." Isabella filled in the gaps in the wreath with more roses, and accepted the baby's breath Yukari handed her. "With pin stripes in a coordinating shade of lavender. The shirt matches.  
  
"It's a wonderful ensemble, but I couldn't help but be reminded of an old American mobster. Perhaps one that stepped into a vat of purple dye?"  
  
The other three women choked, and then started laughing.  
  
***  
  
Hiro dashed down the hall of the hotel where Miwako and Arashi were getting married. He was almost sure he was going to be late, and he hated being late.  
  
Plus, Yukari had sounded particularly amused when she had finally gotten him on the phone.  
  
Hiro smiled slightly as he knotted his tie. If she teased him about it too badly, he could always remind her of her spastic tendencies from high school.  
  
He might remind her anyway; Yukari was cute when she blushed beet red.  
  
First, of course, he had to find her. He had no idea where the women were hiding.  
  
"Why do I have to wear this?!" came an irritated male voice from the left.  
  
Hiro grinned. No, he didn't know where the girls were, but now he had a fairly good idea where Arashi and Koizumi were. He stepped towards the appropriate door and peeked in. His eyes widened.  
  
He could definitely understand Arashi's objections now. He reminded himself to never allow George Koizumi design something for his eventual wedding day.  
  
Still, it didn't look at all bad on Arashi. The guitarist could carry off flamboyance quite well.  
  
And it was too good of an opportunity to miss out on.  
  
"You do look spectacular, Arashi," he said, with amusement lacing his voice liberally.  
  
Both men flipped their heads towards Hiro. Arashi immediately turned bright red, and started protesting.  
  
A variety of expressions flitted across Koizumi's face, finally ending with a mildly amused look.  
  
Hiroyuki noted that the anger and pain that had been present on George Koizumi's face during most of their encounters during the past year was conspicuously absent.  
  
Interesting, that.  
  
"At last," said Koizumi, interrupting Hiro's inner analysis. "Someone who agrees with me. Besides," he said to Arashi, a grin widening his face. "Miwako would be hurt if you didn't abide by her color scheme. You don't want to hurt her feelings, would you?"  
  
"And I'm sure you didn't take the precaution of bringing something else to wear," noted Hiro. "So I think you're stuck."  
  
Arashi eyed both men. One had been his best friend from childhood, and they had finally started to heal the rift between them. The other was his best friend from high school. They were getting along.  
  
Clearly, the entire world was against him.  
  
"Why do I even bother," he muttered as he flopped onto a couch.  
  
"Don't crush the suit," said George automatically, before turning to Hiro. "Want some champagne, Tokumori?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
George poured a glass and handed it to Hiroyuki. "By the way, you're tie is crooked."  
  
Hiro looked down. "Ah. So it is."  
  
He set down his champagne and straightened it. "Better?"  
  
"Much."  
  
Arashi merely groaned and buried his head in his hands.  
  
He thought that he liked it better when Hiroyuki and George disliked each other.  
  
***  
  
When it came time to dress for the wedding, Yukari stepped out of the bride's dressing room and donned her bridesmaid's dress.  
  
It was, of course, a very untraditional dress.  
  
Instead of the floaty fabrics and feminine lines of most of the dresses she'd seen, it was sharp and modern, constructed of fabric that was more crisp than soft. It was dark purple, much darker than what was being worn by Mikako and Miwako, and had thin, black pinstripes.  
  
In essence, it was a high-style business suit, with touches of black lace to make certain that it never dreamed of a conventional boardroom.  
  
Yukari smoothed the long, narrow skirt over her legs, and checked her black boots for scuffs before checking the mirror one last time.  
  
She looked fine; she looked the way she was used to looking.  
  
People would probably watch her as she walked down the aisle, but not for long.  
  
Because, Yukari thought as she shut the door behind her, today Sakurada Miwako was far more beautiful.  
  
***  
  
George closed his eyes as he leaned against the bottom of the wrought iron railing of the hotel staircase.  
  
Only a few days ago, he'd been dreading this moment-he'd been afraid of holding his ex-girlfriend's hand.  
  
He'd always pushed Yukari to stand on her own, to be independent, but he'd been afraid that he was incapable of doing the same. He'd been afraid that when confronted with the girl he'd loved for five of his most tumultuous years, that he wouldn't be able to let go of her.  
  
Now, he knew he would be able to.  
  
George heard the click of high heels on the stairs and looked up.  
  
Yukari, of course, looked beautiful. But then, she always did.  
  
She would always be beautiful, but his heart didn't ache very much anymore when he saw her. George knew he was ready to move on.  
  
"Are you ready?" he asked, holding out his hand.  
  
She smiled at him, an open, completely free smile that he'd rarely seen when they'd been dating. It was the final proof to George that Yukari was happier now than he could have ever made her.  
  
"Yes," she said, holding onto his hand tightly.  
  
The music started, and they walked through the double doors towards the wedding.  
  
He looked into the audience, and saw Kaori. She smiled at him.  
  
George realized that he felt like laughing.  
  
~fin 


End file.
